From the first kick of the ball Frankie Kent made his presence felt, or rather heard, at the base of the Heart of Midlothian defence for the Conference League clash with Dinamo Minsk.

The centre-back talked the team through the match. There was a lot of encouragement, advice designed to keep players sharp and focused, and a bit of back and forth with Lawrence Shankland at one point.

It was one aspect of the behind closed doors fixture, which Hearts won 2-1 to get their Conference League campaign up and running with three points, that the players saw as a positive. 

Kent also spoke of how comfortable he and his team mates are at having a go at one another.

“Yeah, in some ways it's easier because of the information and everything, and you could probably hear us, we were getting onto each other, demanding a lot out of each other and we do in this group," he explained.

“We're not scared to do it, we're not scared to upset each other, we can say it.

“We said that probably helped in terms of keeping our energy [high] and us fired up and wanting to do it because we know what we needed to do and that was to try our hardest to win the game."

It was a win that prompted plenty of emotion. There was a bit of confusion as to how to celebrate, there was obvious delight and there was relief.

Pressure has been growing and growing as Hearts got off to their worst season ever, a run that cost Steven Naismith his job. Therefore that relief was not a surprise but there was also time to enjoy such a success.

“Really good, really good," Kent said of how it felt. "The start of the season that we've had has been testing, it's been hard. I think the main thing is just relief.

“The longer and longer it went without a win, the more pressure and everything. There's always pressure but the main thing is just relief because we do work so hard to try and make that happen and we have been working hard. 

“I think you seen that maybe our luck’s turning, the own goal, the little deflection when [Jorge] Granty's gone through, and a good bit of quality from everyone involved in the goal. 

“But yeah, it's just nice relief, the main thing I think."

He added: “We've got to enjoy these moments, obviously being through the run that we've been on and the hard time that we've been on since the start of the season.

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"For me, my first real win in Europe in terms of group stage and stuff. I loved it. Hard test, a tough game.

“We probably weren't at our best. We showed good moments in the game in terms of in possession, out of possession.  I think you've seen what we're trying to do under Foxy but we're happy that we've won."

Hearts prepared for the game by staying on UK time. It included eating late and having the option of an even later supper at 2m local time. Not that it proved overly popular with no one turning up for a slice of toast.

For Kent, though, he was savouring every moment having joined Hearts for moments such as these.

“I've loved it and just tried to make and probably take in the experience because I don't know when I'm going to get it again," he said.

“That's the main reason why I come up here is to try and experience that and come to cities like this. I never thought I'd come here to play a football game.

“It's been nice, good weather and everything. It's a nice city. We got to go on a couple of walks and topped off with a win."

It would be "human nature" for the players to begin to doubt themselves with such a run. Especially following last season where far more things went right than wrong.

Kent is hopeful that a corner has been turned and will continue to be turned on Sunday.

“You just start to think what is going on," he said. "You try and put your finger on what the problem was and everyone's working so hard. That's the thing. That's been from the start of the season until now. There's not been a point where we haven't been working hard in training and trying to do everything right. 

“I'm hoping, obviously it's easy for me to say it now, but maybe luck's turning our way a little bit. 

“It all started from chances going in on Saturday and we wanted to build on that because we kept on going to the end. We know it wasn't the right result. We built on that. We didn't give in and I think we just showed it again on Thursday.

“It wasn't the best performance in the world. We showed good bits and things we needed to improve on, but we just kept on going and kept on going. 

“Now hopefully our luck will turn and we'll have a good game on Sunday.”